Letters to Viv: You're Not Broken. You're Becoming Art.
The sacred practice of healing in gold and why your cracks are not a flaw, but the path.
Letters to Viv
Open, soul-packed letters to the kind of human I write for: the curious, creative, exhausted by the hustle, and craving something more. I’m writing to you (and me).
Dear Viv,
There is a Japanese art form called kintsugi.
It's the practice of repairing broken pottery with gold.
Not to hide the cracks but to honour them.
To trace each fracture with precious metal.
To say: this break happened… and because of it, this piece is more beautiful now.
I've been thinking about that a lot.
How every break we endure, in love, in business, in our sense of self, leaves a line.
A story. A scar.
But what if the scar was the art?
What if the fracture didn't disqualify you from wholeness but initiated you into it?
Every break within your heart, your spirit, and your life is a place where beauty can return.
If you let it.
If you don't rush the repair.
If you take your time with the gold.
Viv, I want you to feel the break.
Do not avoid it. Do not intellectualize it or dress it up with a filter and a smile.
Feel it.
Really sit in it.
Breathe inside it.
Name the sharpness, the ache, the disappointment.
And then ask:
What is this break teaching me?
How can I grow from this?
What does healing look like on purpose?
Because here's what kintsugi teaches us…
The repair is not fast.
It's not performative.
It's not an Instagram quote, a productivity plan, or a glow-up you force yourself to fake.
It's slow, intentional, and sacred.
Master artisans can take weeks, sometimes even months, to restore a single bowl.
Each crack is cleaned.
Each piece is held.
Each layer of lacquer must cure fully before gold can even be added.
You cannot rush integrity, nor can you force beauty.
You can only become it.
There is no prize for rushing your return.
Don't show the world a shiny surface while the glue underneath is still wet.
We can see the cracks, and you deserve better than pretending they're not there.
Your healing is not a performance.
It's a private and powerful ritual.
I'm still putting my pieces back together, too.
My glue is still wet.
The gold hasn't dried yet, but I know it will.
And when it does, it will hold.
This isn't about pretending you're "healed" just to get back in the world.
It's about learning to be with what's real and letting your truth rise to the surface like gold.
You are not ruined.
You are rare and one of a kind!
And rare things are coveted, collected, and treasured for all time.
Even the rarest and most valuable works of art have flaws that make them all the more beloved.
They inspire others with a story that is all their own.
They glimmer in a way nothing mass-produced ever can.
Your pain has shaped you, and your repair will define you.
You are not broken, my love.
You are evolving into a magnificent work of art!
xo,
Tanya
What story does your favourite scar or break tell, and how has it made you more rare?
I'd love to hear what’s rising for you. Comment below and let it be part of your gold.
Love this Tanya! I super appreciate the metaphor of the wet glue; very helpful image and one I am going to hold onto as I go through my current evolution. Thanks as always for sharing your journey so beautifully and allowing me to witness, and see myself as well. Keep up the powerful writing!!